Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2012

(photographed by Prince Castillon and Anne Capinpin)

Fashion has been and always is connected with the art and aesthetics of the seemingly endless silhouette of luxury and the shadows of clothing lines. There is something about that word, cloaked and hidden in threads and seams of sketches and designs that accept the idea of being such.  And while one might say that this may never be passé, one can also speak that, “Nay, regardless of the sensibility of every piece of luxury to the dictatorial pronouncement of what is supposed to be artful and pretty, fashion can never be completely and absolutely synonymous to luxury without its uttered need for ‘economy’.”  

And as luxury lives its well painted life in the 21^st century; the fashion names, existing or emerging, revolving around its belt are now inevitably forced to enter a black hole and make their way to a certain type of universe of the modern day economic twists and turns.   

Looking at it, may near or from a thorough distance, to the dark swirling movement of the 'business' and style forces, an individual (the designer, the spectator, the buyer, the editor, and the producer as in this case) can prove that there is a flaming need to rely on fashionably categorized numbers and somehow stop the always provoking and yet fascinating fixation on sole reliance to pure art.   

In this kind of setting, gone are the days of purely design bases and now enter the prowess and importance of people that could command the highest level of excellence in an ensemble's quality (say style, texture, form, and materials) and that could dictate the success of the designer in terms of money or clientele popularity.  This and all made the absolute deciding factor in today's world of fashion economy and gave a whole lot of meaning to the greatest sense of the word which is luxury.   

Hence the Philippine Fashion Week, the country's very own fashion Olympics, where 'gods' of the Modern World of Luxury reign supreme and mortals showcased their aesthetics and imagination and followed the gods' economic rulings in order to gain favor from them. (Words by Anne Capinpin)

Ian Somerhalder Mall Tour

Truly, Damon Salvatore was such an exception to all vampire characters created or adopted for the small or the big screen for if he is not, it wouldn't take me to go to SM Mall of Asia on a hot Wednesday afternoon and be convinced to make a skin-to-skin contact with the rest of his girl (or some not girl) fans. I mean, do I look like someone who will endure such kind of hardship just to watch a celebrity being interviewed for a recent clothing brand endorsement at a mall’s atrium?  C’mon! 

The truth of the matter is, I was originally eyeing Ian’s press conference wherein I will not be obliged to go body slamming with a bunch of strangers to take a photo of him. The press con ticket might cost me 3,000 peso worth of purchases but I knew that since I bet it was worth it, I wouldn't mind. However, what concerned me then was the idea of buying merchandise that I will not surely wear. Forgive me but I really am neither a denim person nor a pants (regardless of the materials used) wearing type of gal to be compelled to spend that amount of money even if commendation must be given to the brand for having set a degree of quality for such said products. It was not an "I don’t want to spend  money for just a ticket" type of thing, it was more than that. 

But for the sake of seeing Ian Somerhalder and even if it was against my better judgment, I went to his mall tour with my cousin who was the one who informed me about this event and availed the chance to see him in person (free of charge!). 

Ate Chi. Praises for her printed pants!

Laid back Oriental: I preferred to wear this thinking of comfort.

 We arrived "late" for the event, 2 pm for a 3 pm show. I know it is quite ironic to say that but someone can feel how sluggish she was when she found out that most of the people were at the venue around ten in the morning while some even camped out to score the best vantage point for their cameras. 

Fans.

After an intense hour long waiting, they finally started the show. You read that right, intense! Patience is a virtue I don't have even if it was for Ian Somerhalder. 

VJ Eri as the interviewer.

 

After minutes of raising our heels and putting our weights on the balls of our feet, sets of photos, and slow fading of makeup, we decided to leave the venue and not finish the interview. Other fans immediately grabbed the opportunity to get our places. 

For my conclusion: It was stressful. Yes, I am being frank here. Maybe because I wasn't used to such kind of 'commotion' for I tend to favor shows or events that require silence from the audience for moments of deep thinking to appreciate certain degree of coherence and intelligibility that I somehow could not stand that type of chaos. But may I just say, it was fun and worth the time and effort I spent. Putting it this way, no one knows when Damon Salvatore will step his foot again on Philippine soil so might as well make the most out of it, right?